Nothing Left to Prove
by cartersdaughter
Summary: SamxReader. Got inspired while listening to "Night Moves" by Bob Segar and wrote a little ficlet. The reader is dating Sam and staying at the bunker. She decides she wants to be a hunter. Sam doesn't want her to so he storms off after a big blowout argument. Reader follows the brothers and ends up saving them. Title is taken from the Bob Seger song "Against the Wind."


**Nothing Left to Prove**

"Sam!"

"No!"

"Sam, I know the thought of me hunting makes you nervous. But I've known how to shoot since I was twelve-years-old. I've taken hunter safety. I know all the workings of gun including how to clean, take apart, and load. I know the proper technique for holding and shooting."

"Shooting a deer isn't the same as shooting at Wendigo or an angry spirit."

"It's all the same. A gun's a gun."

"No it's not. It's dangerous. When you're hunting deer, there's not an option for you to be the hunted one. I will not put you in danger." Sam turned and began walking away attempting to end the conversation on his terms.

You put your hand on his shoulder stopping him. "Shouldn't I be the one to make that decision?"

"This is not up for discussion. It's too dangerous," Sam says ripping his arm out of your grasp. "I forbid it," he snaps before stomping away.

"You what?!" you say following him. "I don't think so, Winchester. I am not a child, and you are definitely not my father. I am a grown woman! I make my _own_ choices and my _own_ decisions. You can't tell me what I can and cannot do. I've dealt with this "my way or the highway" crap long enough from my family; I certainly don't need it from you." You give a violent toss of your hair before turning on your heel and stomping away just as violently as Sam had.

You slam the door to your room seething. You feel your face turning red hot with anger. Who did Sam Winchester think he was ordering you around like that? Just because you were dating didn't give him the right to treat you like a child, especially since you hadn't been together that long: Long enough for you to stay in the bunker, but nowhere near long enough for him to have any right to dictate your actions or any part of your life.

You lock your door and settle on the bed, listening to the brothers get ready for the hunt. Occasionally, you hear one them pause outside the door for a few moments as if getting ready to knock before changing his mind. You could tell Sam is still steaming from the argument as well by the way his boots pound around the bunker. Dean's footsteps are slow and thoughtful, the opposite of Sam's. He had definitely been in the background somewhere listening to the whole argument and was now determining who he felt was right.

It didn't matter. He would side with his brother anyway in solidarity. It didn't matter that they knew almost as many female hunters as male ones including their own mother. Sam wanted to be in control, and Dean was willing to let him. The Winchesters had a mentality that it was their job to stop every horrible thing, even the things they had absolutely no control over. And you were one of those things. An unknown entity the Winchesters had never encountered.

You sense the exact moment Dean gives up because this time as he walks past your room you hear the snap of shotgun being closed, meaning Dean had gone straight to his room for the gun without pausing.

Sam, however, makes one final pass in front of your door. You stare it down as though trying to burn a hole through it. If looks could kill, Sam Winchester would be a dead man. During his pass, he stops in front of your door one last time. Then he must have justified his actions in his own head because the response to Dean's "Are you ready Sam?" is a terse "Let's go, Dean," and the clomping of work boots up the stairs on the far side of the bunker leading to the garage.

You wait until the rumble of the Impala's engine completely fades before opening your door and heading back the library/map room. You aren't really sure what this room was designed for but it looks like something resembling a war room.

And that's exactly what you are going to use it for: War on the Winchesters. They thought you were too much of a sissy girl to hunt. Well, Sam Winchester, two could play at that game. Sam Winchester is going to eat his words once you show up and take care of the hunt all on your own before the brothers even get there. There would be no hunt to speak of when they arrived. Didn't matter if Garth called the brothers, you are going to solve this case and execute this hunt.

The Winchesters may know more about the supernatural and things that go bump in the night in general. But you know the area, the local legends, and all the shortcuts on the roads and with the people. Time to show them what sissy girls are really made of. Enough is enough. Now is the time for action, the time to best the Winchesters at their own game. No damsels in distress here; only warriors, well, hunters.

The first thing you do is click through Sam's browsing history. He really needs to learn to delete that. Then again the only person, who has access to the laptop besides you, is Dean and all he does is search porn, car parts, home improvement websites, or hunts. While the details including time, place, and particulars of the hunt are printing, you peruse both Sam and Dean's rooms and the weapons storage to get the appropriate arsenal. First you catalogue what is missing then acquire the same gear: salt filled shotgun, flares, iron and brass rounds.

You have learned to be prepared for anything because you may think you are hunting an angry spirit that will turn out to be a shape-shifter or revenant. Slamming the trunk closed, you climb in praying the car, a powder blue '68 Roadrunner will start. Sticking the key in the ignition, the car sputters to life and the engine caught with a roar. If you follow every shortcut you know, you can take care of the hunt and be there and back before the brothers even question all the witnesses. Especially since you know Dean will stop for gas and snacks on the way. Anything over a twenty minute drive was an eternity to the older Winchester.

"All right you scary son-of-a-bitch, here I come." You laugh to yourself as you pull out of the garage. Living with the Winchesters had made your vocabulary just a bit more colorful. Turning on the radio, you immediately find a station playing a Bob Seger set and start head bobbing and singing along to music. "Against the wind…we were running against the wind." Your musical tastes had adjusted to the new lifestyle as well.

As you drive you go over Sam's notes in your head turning the radio down so you can concentrate. The case involves perfectly healthy men dying mysteriously of heart attacks. Garth had called saying there had been a rash of deaths in a town called Emporia, Kansas. You knew the brothers would take the major highway where there would be traffic and snack breaks. You would take the more direct route and have the case solved before the brothers knew what hit them.

What would be the cause of such horrific ways of dying? A heart attack sounded horrible. And there was definitely something strange, a Supernatural element to it. Pushing your foot to the floor, you speed even faster toward your destination determined to beat the brothers.

Your first stop is to the morgue. It is time to check out the bodies and see what all the fuss was about. Each man didn't look like anything had killed him. Outwardly, they look fine: inwardly too as it turns out. Though each witness report states each man had had a heart attack, there is no sign of it in the blood tests, blockages, or other usual signs of a heart attack. There is no way these were heart attacks. Reading through the test results, it is obviously not heart attacks that caused these deaths but broken heart syndrome. The symptoms mimic those of a heart attack until further tests are run.

Broken heart syndrome is very rare. There is no way, this many men in this small of town have all died from broken heart syndrome. Which means your next stop is going to be to talk to the witnesses. Time to see: what had been going on with these men before they mysteriously dropped dead?

House to house you hear the same thing. Before he collapsed stating his heart hurt, each man had been heard saying, "I didn't do anything. I'm faithful. I would never abandon her."

Finally, at the last house you receive something that could actually help with the case. This is the house of the latest victim. You aren't sure if the brothers have been to this house or not. Sam's big brain could have figured out what the witness told you anyway. The final victim's wife says while her husband was having a heart attack, she thought she saw a dark-haired woman in a bridal gown, who was whispering in her husband's ear.

Going to the police department, you flirt your way to the documents room. Sam may think you are too much of sissy girl to hunt, but you bet you didn't have to nearly as much work as the Winchesters to get the information you needed. In order to look at past cases, Sam and Dean had probably flashed their FBI badges and fancy police language. Even though you hate using your gender and sexuality to get what you want, it is something that got you what you need to get the job done. If a hair flip gets the same results as flashing a badge or spouting some jargon, you are going to use the easier way, especially since you had seen Dean do it countless times. Searching through the police reports, you scan for violent deaths of women near their wedding dates.

Bingo. There it is: Angeline Murphy. She matched the description the victim's wife had given: a beautiful bride, who killed herself on her wedding day, after being abandoned at the altar. The groom had left Angeline for another women, then been killed in a car accident. Surprisingly, the groom wasn't the ghost. But you could definitely feel Angeline's pain. Being left sucked. Sam had left you for this hunt. And before that you had been left by countless men and even people in your family.

But as much as being left sucked, Angeline had no right to be killing men just because her man had sucked. Time to take care of this mess. Making a photo copy of the police report and information about Angeline, you flash another smile at the guy who had let you in before climbing to your car.

Pulling into the cemetery, you see the Impala parked by the gate. Damn it! You were hoping to beat them here. Hearing the report of a shotgun, you sprint toward the sound.

"You said you were going to marry her. THEN YOU LEFT HER TO DIE!" You hear the thud of a body against a grave stone. You hear the ghost of Angeline Murphy scream before hearing the report of shotgun. Dean's…loaded with salt rounds. At least that's what you could tell by the sound, because from where you were hiding behind a headstone, that was all you could get.

Coming from out from behind, you see Dean being thrown landing near Sam. "You, too. You promised to create a new life. Then you left. You abandoned her. You left her alone to raise a child. You left her with no memory of what you had done," Angeline screeched.

Sneaking closer to the scene, you watch as Angeline flickers back and forth between both brothers as though deciding who to kill first.

But why is she still here? Near Sam is already a pile of smoldering bones in a wedding gown and next to Dean is a smoking skull. There has to be something else holding her here. What the hell is it? You survey the area, sweeping it with your eyes for some object.

YES! There it was, next to Sam: a silver locket dangling from lid of the casket. Taking off your jacket first you use it to slide the skull back into the grave and then use it to slide the locket into the grave as well. Then you pick the salt canister up from the ground. You liberally dump the entire canister over the bones, before lighting an entire book of matches adding them to the bones, skull, and the locket. This woman had attacked your boys; she damn sure wasn't going to be able to do that to anyone else.

Dean shakes off the dizziness of being thrown into the headstone before grabbing the gear. "What the hell? When did you get here? Did you…?"

"Yes," you say before heading back toward your car.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Sam says getting up as well and running after you. "Why the hell are you here?"

"Saving your ass," you say shoving your duffle into the trunk of the Roadrunner.

You drive home on your own, Sam choosing to ride with Dean. You could tell he was angry at the fact you had followed them. As Sam slams the door to the Impala, Dean cringes before he gives you a proud smile. "Thank you for saving us," he mouths.

It's a silent drive home. But when the three of you reach the house, the argument continues.

"You had no right to be in this town!"

"I had every right. You're the one who left the research wide out in the open. If you didn't want me to go, you shouldn't have left it for me to find!" Your voice has now reached a shrill tone that is usually only reserved for your siblings.

"I didn't think we were in the business of hiding things from each other." Sam's voice has reached the scary undertone usually reserved for monsters.

"Neither did I. But you hid Jess from me. You hid hunting from me. You hid your whole life from me." You say; your voice laced with venom, so potent you hope Sam will give up.

"I was trying to protect you," Sam turns away attempting to end the conversation.

"As you can see, I can protect myself. I can take care of myself. And take care of you too." You grab his bloody and bandaged arm. "I saved your ass, in case you didn't notice. You need to learn to trust me Sam. You know plenty of female hunters: Ellen, Jo, Jody, your own mother. I know. Dean told me. If your own mother can be a hunter, why can't I? What's the difference between them and me huh?" you ask throwing your arms in the air to illustrate the craziness of Sam's argument.

"The difference is they're dead." His voice shakes slightly at the admission My mother, Ellen, Jo… Jody hasn't died, but there's been plenty of time where she's been damn close. Because of me. So that's why I do what I can to protect you, to keep you safe, to keep the same thing from happening to you. That's why I try so hard to keep you from hunting. It's a dangerous job with too many risks. Too many unknowns I can't account for. Too many things l can't keep away from you. Maybe I should just stay away from you. Like: I should have stayed away from Jess. Keep you alive and protect you the way I couldn't do for her." He hangs his head in shame.

"Sam it's not your job to protect me. I'm a grown woman. I'm sick and tired of this argument. You need to let me make my own decisions. I should be able to tell what's real and dangerous. You and Dean have taught me enough. And you Sam Winchester are not dangerous." You place a hand on Sam's shoulder in comfort even though you need to stand on your tiptoes, because despite the fact he is hunched over the younger Winchester is still towering over you.

He pulls away, yanking his arm from your grasp. "Yes I am, and you should get the hell away from me! And stay away. WHY DON'T YOU JUST PACK YOUR STUFF AND GET OUT?!"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, YOU IDIOT! I WANT TO BE WITH YOU!" You say grabbing his arm once again, because you figure grasping his injured arm will hold him in place.

"Well, I don't want you here. You're going to get hurt," he says as he shoves you away hissing in pain as he does so.

"You're hurt," you say walking back up to him and pushing him to sit in on of the chairs in the "war room". Then you take a piece of gauze and wet it with antiseptic. Sam hisses as you press the gauze against a cut in his side then move on to clean the gash in his arm. "Sorry," you apologize.

"Not your fault. Told you, the hunt was dangerous," he mutters his eyes trying to catch yours, reversing the situation now that his injury has forced him to calm down.

"You can't protect me forever, Sam," you say while continuing your doctoring being sure to keep your focus on Sam's muscular bicep instead of his soulful eyes.

"I can try," he says finally catching your eye. "It's my job to keep you safe."

"And what do you think my job is?" you ask, taping gauze to his arm before closing the first-aid kit. "Love is a two way street, Winchester," you say leaving a stunned Sam sitting at the map table attempting to process what you have just told him.

"Wait," Sam's voice is husky as if lined with tears as it echoes down the hall causing you pause at the door to your room. "Join us on the next salt and burn?" he asks ducking his head in what you have now come to recognize as embarrassment. For a six foot plus guy, the younger Winchester does a good job of making himself seem smaller, hiding his eyes behind his hair. "You were kind of badass out there last night. And I don't think I ever thanked you for saving our butts in the cemetery. I don't think either one of us noticed the locket. You held your own and really came through. Maybe on the easier hunts you can start joining us?..." His voice trails off as his eyes peek up expectedly anxiously awaiting your response.

"Easy hunts?" You raise your eyebrows ready to shut the door in his face.

"Not easy hunts. Simpler ones until you're trained and ready to take on something else. I mean, until, _I'm_ ready. I really care about you. And I'm terrified of something happening to you. Just take it easy on me, all right?" he asks before kissing you lightly on the mouth.

"No promises, Winchester. But I'll think about it," you say as you shut the door, closing it silently: once again leaving a stunned Sam Winchester in your wake.

As the door, closes with a soft click, you hear an even softer "I love you too," from the other side.


End file.
